Great Day

I don't know what changed about my kids in the afternoon, but I like it! I was struggling with them and how to teach them. Suddenly after break we are clicking and things are going well. I feel like I'm starting to get to know them and I'm getting better about meeting their needs. It's been a great week so far. I hope that this week keeps going this well! Tomorrow is nothing special, but Friday is our Chinese New Year parade at my second school. I am looking forward to it. My first school's parade was in the morning newspaper today. The kids were so excited about it and the pictures looked great! ^_^

Computer Craziness!

I had intended to post again this past weekend, but our computer had some issues that it needed to work out. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes!Here is some of the yarn that I have made. They are plyed and washed and ready for use! I think they look pretty good. I'm excited to use them. I have a small project in mind for them, so we'll see when I can get to that!
Friday night was the last night of our Astro belly dance classes. It was really fun and I'm sad that we are done learning it. After class we all went out to dinner and then a new place that opened here called The Chocolate Bar. Saturday there was a workshop with a teacher from NYC. She came last year and I took her work out and choreography class too. It was amazing. This year was just as good! I had a great time!
After the workshop on Saturday I went out with my coworker from my old school. It was really nice to get together with her. We had dinner and enjoyed talking about everything. It was a nice relaxing evening.
Sunday I prepared for this week. I went out to get a few things for my kids, and set up my lessons for the week. So, far the week has been going well. All my kids seem to be enjoying what we are doing right now, so that helps! I feel very recharged after this past break. I don't know, maybe because for once I wasn't sick over a vacation or that I took some time to relax. Whatever it was, I feel great!
Today we celebrate Chinese New Year at my first school. We had a dragon parade and the kids were so excited to be a part of it! My boss approved three days that I can go for conferences so I'm really excited about that! I need to get some professional development in to keep my certification current. They just changed the rules for all that the year I started school and my year was not grandfathered in so, I have a lot of extra to do to keep current. It's good though, it makes me accountable.
Friday we will have our Chinese New Year celebration at my second building. It should be a good time! ^_^

No Go

Last night we called off our trip to the black smith due to bad weather coming through. We have postponed it until the weather is better. Too bad, I was excited about that, but we can't control the weather and I know we'll get there someday.
So, waking up this morning I decided that I wanted something different for breakfast. Everyday I eat oatmeal or cereal. Today, I wanted to get adventurous. Last weekend after skiing with my mom, she made me this omelet in a bag. My mother-in-law had told me about it, but I couldn't understand it without seeing it. It's really easy to do. First, I got all the stuff I needed out.

Then I got my water going.

While my water was starting to boil I mixed two eggs in a bowl. Then I dumped it in the zip lock bag and added pepper, salt, cheese, and broccoli. My mushrooms were really old, and so I couldn't use them.

Next I put the bag in the boiling water for 13-15 minutes. Longer if you put a lot of stuff in it! I did mine for 15.

After that, take it out of the water, open the bag and dump your prefect omelet on the plate. YUMMY!

Strange Finds

After my crazy day at the Dr's, I called my college friend to tell her what was going on. We lived next door to each other our freshman year and have stayed friends ever since. She was one of my bride maids at my wedding and I was her matron of honor ("lady of honor" is what she called it) at her wedding. So, whenever anything big happens to us we call each other. So, after talking she says let's get together. "What should we do?" I ask. She had a great plan of heading out to small town America to see a true life black smith. She has always wanted to go see this smithy and he hubby has as much desire to do that as mine does to learn spinning wheel.
Well, she called them today to see if they are open tomorrow. They are and they said that down the road from them is an alpaca farm. Wooo-hoooo.... my fiber junkie self is going there! I'm excited about going because we always have fun together and I've never seen a black smith shop. It should be cool! ^_^ She said that this smitty like to work in Celtic knots and Celtic patterns. My college friend lived in Ireland so I know how much this means to her. She also knows her history of each kind of Celtic knots, so I know I will learn a lot from her! ^_^

Emergency Dr. Visit

Yesterday I noticed somethings that were not usual for me. So, today instead of getting to take all my teachy stuff to school, I went to see my Dr. I hate going to the Dr., but I talked to my friend last night and told her what was going on. She said that I needed to see my Dr. ASAP. So, I was good, after I blogged this a.m. I called. However, my Dr. was not there today, so they told me I could see another Dr. OK, whatever, I just want to know what is wrong. I trust my Dr. very much. Two years ago in the summer I had some mystery health problems. For 3 weeks I was in and out of testing and the hospital. The one thing that really bothers me more than anything is not needles to draw my blood, but the act of taking my blood. God gave me my blood and it's mine. I don't like to share it!! So, the hospital is really a cover for vampires (although, in the book Twilight by Stephine Meyer, one vampire DOES work in the hospital!). Anyway, this substitute Dr. doesn't know me, or my history. She never listened to word I said and treated me like I was a little kid. Like I have no idea how MY body works. Oh well, the conclusion that she came to is that I'm fine and nothing is wrong with me. My hubby asked if I have to pay the bill for that since she didn't do anything. Yeah, right!
So, as I was sitting there waiting for the Dr. I realized that I have become a true yarn/fiber addict! In the waiting room a women asked me what I was knitting. I showed her the half legwarmer that I have done and then she asked me where I buy my yarn. At first I was caught off guard. This is not a normal question, but I told her that my friend had bought this yarn and I was just knitting it. Then, I HAD to go and get on my new soap box... I told her about spinning. What is wrong with me? I'm now subjecting strangers to my obsession! Oh man, I am an addict! I even dream about spinning. It's become more than a passion, it's become a disease. And, yes, I did spin that other bobbin full. I can start plying it after 5 p.m. tomorrow because I was told to let it sit for 24 hours to let the twist set in. I don't think anyone out there really cares about this, but I'm way into this spinning thing. I just can't stop spinning! HA HA!

Relaxing and Chilling Out

I have been enjoying my vacation so much! Yesterday Hubby and I were supposed to go out with my friend Monica, however, Hubby wanted to work on the bathroom project since it was so warm out. I called to see if maybe just Monica and I could hang out for one drink and some munchies because I do have to help with the project. She had found other folk to go out with so I helped with the Project. After that we did some measuring for the framing of the walls project. The bathroom will have been under construction for 1 year come May. So, yesterday was very warm and we did get the saw out and cut a few boards. We have a lot of work to do to finish that project! I will take any work on it as progress at this point.

In the mornings I have been doing laundry and cleaning up. I found a whole bunch of teachy stuff that I want to take over to school. Seeing that school is open today, I'm thinking after breakfast and blogging, I should take my stuff over. No, I don't want to go to school on my day off, but I will because it means I don't have to do it during my normal work week.

In spinning I have one full bobbin and a second one almost full. Then I will run into the problem of how to ply it when I need three bobbins and I only have two. Ah, I'll worry about that when I get to it. So far it's looking pretty good. Even Hubby noticed that my yarn is starting to look more uniform. Yeah! I even found a great pattern for it once it's in usable yarn state. Here's my full bobbin and the one that I'm still working on.

I've also been working on some leg warmers for Monica. They look cute so far! I like them anyway! ^_^

Spinning and Cleaning

Today my Mom came to help me clean my basement. I can't stay down there very long because of my allergies. Not very fun. However, Mom and I got half of it arranged and cleaned up. It looks good on one half. The other half we just piled neatly as it's mostly Hubby's stuff. He needs to just sit down with it one day and go though it. We also worked on cleaning up my study up stairs. I made another big pile to take to the Good-Will at some point this week while I'm off. I'm so glad that she came to help me. We have a lot to do and I sometimes get overwhelmed by the amount of things to do. It's nice to have my mom come and help me when I get really in over my head. ^_^

Yesterday at the guild meeting I learned to ply. Here is my first skein from a wheel! I'm pretty proud of it.

I was really excited about plying and I got to use a ball winder and a niddy noddy. I was trying to explain to my husband what a niddy noddy is and why I need one. "So it's a glorified skein winder?" was more or less the way he understood it. Then I showed him a picture of a nice wooden one on the Internet. "I bet we could make one out of PCV pipe." He says. So low and behold, there are directions to make one out of PVC pipe. Here is my lovely niddy noddy that my hubby made me! I love it! ^_^Then at the meeting, I tried 90% wool and 10% silk roving. I was scared of it at first because it has silk and I was told that was hard to use. HA! I bought a little bit to try and then after that I bought a whole pound of it! Here's the pound and what it looks like spun.

And finally, I bought a pound of this beautiful lavender wool that smells like lavender!

Shaving Cream and Modeling Clay

Yesterday was the last day of school before a whole week off! The staff had our chocolate day on Thursday but there was so much food that we left it so we could have it again on Friday! YUMMY! I have never seen so many cookies, cakes, pies, brownies, chocolate bars, and chocolate covered strawberries before in one place! It was more than a chocolate factory! The people in my school love food and so if they can find a reason to bring food in, they will. I don't mind making something now and then for them. It's fun. The staff was ready for break yesterday and so were the kids! I thought since it's the last day, let's do something fun! My first two classes cancelled, so I only have 4 classes. The first one that I had only one student showed up. We read a silly book and played a quick game of hang man. She loves hang man, so I let her play it. My next class we did work. Then my kindergartners came. I HATE touching shaving cream, but I thought that they would love it if they could play with it. I put some on the table for each of them so we could write letters in it. YUCK! They were so funny that I forgot how much I hate shaving cream and just started laughing! Somehow, I managed to get it in my hair, the kids too! It was really fun. My final class I brought in buckets of water and modeling clay so they could make boats to race in the water. I'm not the biggest fan of modeling clay either, but we tried to make boats. Some of them got the idea and they floated, one however was not happy that he couldn't just make any shape. All in all, they had fun, but they were ready for vacation too!
At belly dance last night I told them that I couldn't do the hafla. I have so much on my plate with this new job that spending my free time to prepare for dance is not in my best interest. I feel bad. T_T I wanted to dance at it, but I need all my free time to prep for my teaching week. Maybe I can be in the next one! That would be cool. I will go and watch my friends dance. They are going to be great!
Today is the spinning guild meeting. I want to buy some new fibers because my pretty blue one is a little hard for me to use right now. I think once I get more comfortable with spinning I can try that again! I have been looking forward to this meeting since I found out about the guild. Today I have the chance to try every one's wheel. I can get a feel for what kind of wheel I really like. I love "little peanut", but I will have to return him to his rightful home someday. His owner has been great about me using him. She said I can keep borrowing him for as long as I like but I have to be using him not just looking at him. We are going to get a workout at the guild today! ^_^

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! It's cold and snowy here! My husband gave me the best gift he could when he woke me up this a.m. to tell me that I could turn my alarm off because school was closed! About a minute after that, I got my phone call telling me it was officially a snow day!!!! I feel a little bad for the kids because they were so looking forward to their Valentine's parties. Oh well, I guess we'll do the parties tomorrow. My hubby gave me Devils Panties note cards, pins and a Devils Panties shirt! I love her comics and I read them everyday! Check them out here. I don't think I'll ever out grow comics! I really am a 5 year old at heart! ^_^

Here's some of the snow pictures that I took this a.m. Right now it's very windy and it's still snowing and COLD!!

Scary Weekend Happenings

This weekend I drove home to ski with my mom. We had the best time! The hills were all powder and there was no one on the hills! It was amazing! We even had most of the chair lift to ourselves! It was not too cold out. The wind stopped after we had been out for a while. It was just so great! We started at 4 pm and we were kicked out at 10pm. It was my first time out this season. I'm so glad that I went! We couldn't have asked for a better day to ski!
On Saturday Mom and I went out to the store to get a few things. I went to get a few things for my students for Valentine's Day. We went to the dollar store so I could get some pencils and stickers. We were walking up and down the isles we suddenly heard some one scream for 9-1-1. We went to see what happened and in the front of the store a women was having a seizure. It was so scary. Some one said that she wasn't breathing. When I was in college I had taken CPR classes. It was a while ago, and in this case I was so scared. I'd never seen a seizure. There were so many people around this women that I would have been in the way. It seemed that the ambulance took FOREVER to get there. Mom and I were pretty shaken up. We did get my pencils, but trying to leave was really hard as to all the medical people that were there.
Today starts the last week before February break! I can't wait for that! ^_^

Wonderful Day

I took my loaner wheel to school today. I demoed it for the fourth graders and they loved it! I had four fourth grade classes and it went so well. The teachers all said thank you to me and the kids all day kept coming up and saying how much they enjoyed seeing the wheel demo. They were learning about colonial times. Today was their colonial day festival. All day they they had the chance to try doing different colonial activities. One room they were making candles, in another they were quilting, learning to write with quill pens, and finally they could try tin punched art. It was a fun day. The teachers all dressed up in colonial outfits. It was really fun. Of course, the rest of the day all my kids wanted to know about the wheel and why it was in our room. I was impressed that my kindergartners didn't touch it at all once I told them they could look at it but only with their eyes.
Tonight I got a fish fry for dinner and watched the 1980 something movie War Games. Totally cheesy, but it was fun to watch it! The fish fry was the first one I've had since my Japanese friend Yoshino moved back to Japan. That was last May. Oh, it was so good! I love fish fry on cold snowy nights. Lake effect snow bands close to us have now gained national attention. Owego has gotten over 100 inches in the past few days. That's madness! We have been getting a bit of snow here. Yesterday we had snow falls that were creating white outs as I drove to work. The snow is so pretty when it falls, but the dusting off the cars every ten minutes gets old quick! I hope to get some skiing in really soon! ^_^

The Best Staff Meeting EVER!

Now, exciting and staff meetings are not two words that go together! Today, my mind was changed! The one principal decided that we should have fun at staff meetings, so he had us choose what we wanted to do. Our choices were snowshoeing, ballroom dancing, cross-country skiing or walking. Are you kidding??? I went to ballroom dancing! It was awesome! I had the best time. The other ESOL teacher was my partner. We just kept laughing. It really was a great time! Here's what pros looks like, not me! They also suggested to us that we get our kids to do it! That would be cool!

Great Relaxing Day

Ah, I feel great. So far, I've done nothing special! I ripped out a caplet that I was working on. The pattern was a little bit wrong, so I looked it up and found the right way. It's a cable pattern so I had to find out how exactly it was supposed to work.

After that very exciting morning, I discovered a knitting show on TV. Yes, I am that dorky. It was great! It's called Knitty Gritty on the DIY channel! Today they made a book cover with this really cool technique How cool is that picture? They made it on the show and they showed you how to do it. I loved it!

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I got the call that we were having a snow day today! I was so excited! I watched the news and it looks like most of the districts were closed for today! I stayed up and read my book. I got to sleep in today and now I'm watching some daytime TV. It's really really cold out! My hubby has today off too, so we are hopefully going to work around the house on some of our projects!
It's so nice to sit here, type my blog, drink my tea and watch TV. It's like I got a free Saturday! YEAH!

It's How Cold Out???

Oh man, it is soooooooooooooo cold out! Every school district closed today, except my district! The temp this a.m. was 13 degrees F (-10C), with wind chill.... -23F (-30C). That's cold! I wore my fingerless gloves for most of the day. My one building the a.c. was on!!! Are you kidding me??? I couldn't get any colder if I tried! My second building was great! It was like a sauna. It was so warm. I was so happy! It also made my kids sleepy, so the lessons went well.
On the weekend I cleaned up the house and went out to buy some books for my classroom. I got some great chapter books for kids. I also got a picture book for my little kiddos.
I also worked on some knitting and taking a few things over to Good Will. I feel like I got a lot down this weekend!